Yesterday the pre-trial judge in the Mladic case granted the Prosecution’s motion for the amendment of the indictment.
According to the Prosecution’s submission, the proposed indictment conforms to the scope and structure of the indictment in the Karadzic case. The amended indictment, in the Prosecution’s view, would allow for a possible joinder of the two cases.
Karadzic was arrested almost 3 years ago. Indeed, the joinder may further delay the proceedings against him.
First, the pre-trial stage for Mladic may take quite a long time. For Karadzic it took more than a year. In the Mladic case, it may take even longer if the reports of his poor health are true.
Moreover, if Mladic does have serious health problems, then the joint trial will proceed even slower than the current case against Karadzic.
Secondly, some evidence, presented so far by the Prosecution in the Karadzic trial, may be relevant to the Mladic case. Such evidence would have to be re-introduced in the joint trial.
Indeed, the judges will weigh all the relevant factors to decide whether it is in the interest of justice to join the accused.
If Mladic was indicted only with the Srebrenica Genocide, it would have been a streamlined process.
So far, out of all cases adjudicated by the Tribunal, it has been only the Srebrenica massacre that was qualified by the judges as Genocide.